Bloggers Recommend...

One of the benefits of hanging around in the blogosphere, and particularly Kidlitosphere, is that it's one giant book club (like Goodreads, only—more focused and interrelated, I suppose). Which means that some of the books I read are a direct result of other bloggers' reviews and recommendations. Here are three such books I've read in recent months, two old and one new. I wish I could tell you who recommended them, but alas; I have no idea. In two of the three cases, I do recall that the books were the subject of talk on more than one blog, which was what got my attention. Whereas Whelan's book was a solitary jewel.

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge (2003)

I know, I know, everybody but me read this book and the sequel a long time ago! But just in case you haven't, I'm here to tell you why you should. Shakespeare Bats Cleanup reminds me a little of Love That Dog by Sharon Creech in tone and style, which is a darn good thing. This novel in verse is about a 14-year-old baseball player who gets mono and is stuck at home for weeks. Normally blasé about his writer dad's work, Kevin is bored enough to tinker with poetry, even sneaking a book on the subject out of his father's office. He ends up keeping a poetry journal in which he experiments with form even as he experiments with thoughts about his life. When Kevin goes back to school and his first love, baseball, he keeps writing, chagrined but secretly pleased to find out that he's hooked on poetry. And there's also a girl he likes...

Check out this sample of Kevin's poetry. I forgot to tell you how funny his thoughts about poetry are, and how much the humor tells us about this kid!

How Do You Do, Haiku

I thought I'd start small. I kind of
remember haiku from school last year.
I at least remember they're little.

But, man—I never saw so many frogs
in the moonlight. And leaves. Leaves
all over the place.

Weren't there any gardeners in ancient
Japan? Weren't there any cats and dogs?

Still, haiku look easy. Sort of. Five
syllables in the first line, seven
in the second, five in the third.

Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs.
Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs.
Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, leaves.

Very funny, Kevin.

At least I finished it. I can't finish anything
else, except my nap. Seventeen syllables
is just about right for somebody with my
reduced stamina. Perfect thing for an
invalid.

Oh, man! Look at that: in valid. I never
saw that before.

Just a single space
in a word I thought I knew
made the difference.

Stylistically, the free verse in Koertge's book may seem simple, even too prosy. But there's a definite music to it, and it's the music of character and voice. Which is actually a pretty stunning accomplishment. Note, for example, how the line break after "I can't finish anything" and before "else" mirrors the content both beautifully and with comic effect. The rest of the line breaks in that stanza do something similar, leaving us with a clear and ironic picture of how frustrated this active boy is by his illness.

And finally, Kevin's thoughts about haiku and the power of "just a single space," then rendered in a haiku (indented in the original), presents a deeper thought about the form than most poetry classes teach, yet without losing the narrator's young voice. The book would obviously be a great tool for teaching 6th-10th graders about poetry forms.

Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs is the sequel, also very good. If you, like me, are one of the few people who hasn't read these books, I suggest you hurry to the library or bookstore and remedy the situation!

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan (2005)

The year is 1919, and a girl named Rachel Sheridan is living with her missionary parents in British East Africa when the influenza epidemic sweeps the planet. Her parents work hard to save lives in their medical clinic, but both end up contracting the illness and dying. What will become of Rachel? Well, her neighbors, an arrogant British couple, have an idea. They had been planning to send their daughter to her wealthy grandfather in England to try to ensure that she inherits his estate when he dies—which, frankly, they believe will be soon. But Valerie Pritchard dies in the epidemic, too, and Rachel looks a lot like her... Soon Rachel is caught up in the Pritchards' deception, on her way to visit her "grandfather" and feeling very bad about the whole thing. But there is no one to care for her, and certainly no one to support her dream of keeping her parents' clinic open. So she bids farewell to her native friends and hopes for the best.

There's a bit of a Secret Garden feel to this story, but it still manages to capture a period in history, as well as what it would be like to suddenly have your entire life turned upside down. Rachel's clear first-person voice is matter-of-fact, yet poignant, as she wonders what to do in an untenable situation. Her love for Africa is a contrast to the Pritchards' dislike of the place, just as her love for the people her parents serve is a contrast to the Pritchards' racism and snobbery.

One of the nicest thing about the grandfather in England is that he is an avid bird watcher, and he enlists Rachel/Valerie to go out and watch birds on his behalf now that he is too ill to leave the house.

As you might guess, the Pritchards get their comeuppance and Rachel finds her own way, but this relatively simple story is such a nice little book that I really recommend it.

(If you like it, you might then look for Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea, which features an intrepid young orphan who falls in love with the Amazon region, in contrast to the attitude of her uptight British guardians.)

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (2010)

This one's more recent, published just a few months ago, and it's unabashedly a YA romance about a girl who goes to school in Paris and falls for a French boy. But I think you'll find, as I did, that it isn't just another fluffy romance: Anna and the French Kiss is a pretty good boarding school drama and has some solid character development as Étienne St. Clair falls for Anna but tries to pretend it isn't happening because of his loyalty to his longtime girlfriend.

What's enjoyable about this book is seeing how Anna deals with things like her homesickness and her awkwardness at not being able to speak French as well as the other students. (She doesn't order a real breakfast for a couple of weeks because she doesn't know how to ask for the dishes.) Author Perkins builds a nice little cast of characters who befriend Anna and deal with their own troubles. Of course, there's also a gorgeous mean girl with minions! But despite some predictable elements, Anna and her friends feel very real. At times you may find yourself thinking, "Why doesn't this boy just dump his girlfriend and date Anna officially?" Yet the interactions are melodramatic in a believable way, if you're a teenager or know anything about teens.

It helps that Perkins leavens her story with humor. For example, Anna worries about not being French-cool, about wearing the wrong clothes, especially white sneakers. But she gradually realizes that people are still just people in Paris, and she even learns to speak some French.

Subplots about Anna's best friend and her sort of boyfriend back home, as well as Étienne's troubles with his parents, further complicate the book and the growing relationship between the two main characters. We get to know her a lot better than we do him, but by the end of the book, he does seem like more than just a pretty face. Overall, a theme about growth and risk-taking suits the story's romance as well as its premise about immersion in a strange culture.

Pick this one up if you're in the mood for a little romance, not to mention a little France!

My thanks to the bloggers who have recommended these three books, along with so many other great reads. In a small way, this post is my tribute to them.

Aha! It's all coming back to me... I think I was inspired to read Anna and the French Kiss after visiting Random Musings of a Bibliophile. Thanks, Brandy! Here's her review.

Cybils Award Winners

Just in case you didn't catch the link elsewhere, the 2009 Cybils Award winners have been announced. These awards for the best children's books of each year are nominated by the Kidlitosphere blog community, i.e., librarians, teachers, parents, writers, and other bibliophiles, with final judging done by committee. One nice thing about the awards is that they include genre categories such as Sci-fi/Fantasy and Graphic Novel. Here are a few of the top picks:

Picture Book: All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Middle Grade Fiction: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

MG Fantasy and Science Fiction: Dreamdark: Silksinger (Fairies of Dreamdark) by Laini Taylor

Note that both of the award-winning graphic novels, The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis for middle grade and Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation by Tom Siddell for YA, are reviewed in my recent "Getting Graphic" post.

And Pam Turner's wonderful book, The Frog Scientist, won for YA nonfiction! (It's equally accessible to middle grade readers, so they shouldn't miss out.)

Bloggers vs. Book Reviewers

It's like one of those pro wrestling smackdowns. In one corner, we have the Blazing Blogger, apparently a stay-at-home mom with a toddler at her knee and an infant in her arms. She wields a mean board book, so watch out! In the other corner, we have Boudica the Book Reviewer (formerly known as Boadicea—check an actual encyclopedia, not Wikipedia, please). Her weapon is an ARC, but paperbacks can be deceptively powerful, so go ahead and hold your breath.

Is there trash talking? Why, of course!

Boudica: Unprofessional mommy person!

Blazing: Ivory tower snob!

Boudica: Illiterate wench!

Blazing: Hey, I have a master's degree in library science!

Boudica: But, those children...

Blazing: They're props. I borrowed them from a neighbor.*

Boudica: You're still not one of Us.

Blazing: If, by Us, you mean avid readers with intelligent opinions, am too.

Boudica: Are not!

Blazing: Am too!

Boudica: Did you sit through graduate-level classes about Othello's childhood?

Blazing: Worse. Post-modern feminist influences in Lord of the Flies.

Hearing this, Boudica recoils, but she soon recovers...

We'll leave these warriors to their blistering repartee and their book-shaped facial slaps. What is it that has had both the folks commenting on Roger Reads and the ones discussing blog-related issues in the Kidlitosphere community up in arms this summer? Two major questions: (1) Is a blogger qualified to talk about children's books, let alone create an actual Review? (2) Are bloggers unduly influenced by publishers and—even more alarming—by PR/marketing types slinking around in raincoats like flashers?

The discussions were lively, somewhat troubling, and perhaps overly earnest; they were also intelligent. The following are some of the critiques of (children's book) blogging as I recall them:

1. Bloggers take money out of the mouths of professional book reviewers.
2. Bloggers rely almost entirely on Personal Taste, a dubious criterion.
3. Bloggers are self-selected, which means their qualifications vary wildly.
4. The so-called "love of books" is a tawdry excuse for writing something which falsely resembles a book review.
5. Bloggers are obsessed with seeing their words in a public forum. It's the same kind of self-promotion you see on MySpace and Facebook, only with books involved.
6. Bloggers are bought and sold by marketing reps and publishers (think politicians and lobbyists).

Then there are these concerns:

7. Bloggers who run contests are subject to undue influence.
8. Bloggers who participate in blog tours are subject to undue influence.
9. Bloggers who accept ARCs are subject to undue influence.

And my personal favorite:

10. Kidlit bloggers only read each other's blogs. Since nobody out there is listening, who cares?

Nevertheless, for better or for worse, many see bloggers as a rising voice in the world of publishing. Here are some of the pro-blogger points:

--Bloggers are people who love books and talking about them, so they promote literacy. In fact, some bloggers specifically campaign for literacy.
--On a related note, blogging creates a giant, international book club. The more people who talk about books, the better.
--Book reviewers and bloggers are on the same page (pun obviously intended). They should unite to defend books against the encroachment of video games and their ilk.
--Loving books is not, amazingly enough, a Bad Thing that should disqualify one from speaking about specific books with any degree of intelligence. It is even suspected that professional reviewers love books!
--ARCs are simply a way for bloggers to get their hands on books. Most bloggers don't lie about which books they like just to please publishers. (Same thing with giveaways and blog tours, at least in my experience. Send me stuff at your own risk, Paulie PR!)
--Bloggers write for people who read books, not for publishers and their marketing departments. They're just as happy if you get a book at a library as at a bookstore.
--Bloggers have range and creativity; being independents gives them a kind of "Emperor's New Clothes" freedom.
--Bloggers bring a variety of fresh voices to a sometimes-stagnant dialogue about children's books.
--Then again, many of the best bloggers talking about children's books are librarians. Essentially, they're drawn from the same pool of talent as the professional reviewers.
--Even the much-maligned "Mommy Blogger" is often a bright, well-educated individual with actual thought processes. (Pregnancy doesn't destroy that many brain cells. And it's an urban myth that a woman's college degrees burst into flames when she brings a baby home from the hospital.)
--The difference between "I personally liked this book so maybe you will, too" and "Here's a literary analysis of this book" is fairly clear.
--As in any field of endeavor, ethical, talented bloggers tend to stand out.

I will note that this debate parallels last fall's debate about the Newbery selection process, boiling down to the great question of literary vs. commercial publications, or rather academic vs. popular taste. The final selection, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, is a more-than-fortunate blend of both. (I have since been amused by all the swooning librarians who are enchanted by Gaiman's accent and neo-Byronesque smolder. I was even more amused by James Kennedy's faux Newbery challenge!)

In addition to considering points of logic, we should consider outcomes, the true targets of this uneasy talk about blogging. Perhaps the most worrisome outcome is that bloggers are being quoted on book jackets as if they were reviewers for Booklist and School Library Journal and the Horn Book Magazine. Most readers don't know the difference between a pro reviewer and a possibly compromised blogger. Does that make these blogger blurbs a problem?

I would have to say no, and not because I'm a blogger. Rather, I'm a cynic. When I look around, I see a vast corporate marketing machine dominating the nation, if not the world. (Conspiracy theorists, come on down!) I'm not the only one who thinks like this, of course. What's really funny is that most book buyers don't know the significance of Booklist and School Library Journal and the Horn Book Magazine. What they do know, after hours of TV viewing, is that anyone shilling a product is probably paid to do so. At the very least, they realize that the person quoted is expressing an individual opinion. I'm guessing Mom and Pop Reader take any and all back jacket quotations and associated hype with a big old shaker of salt.

Parents are wa-a-a-ay more interested in whether the jacket art is appealing, the flap copy sounds good, and, most important, whether Johnny has the slightest interest in the book they're waving in his direction. I mean, have you ever walked through the children's section of Barnes and Noble? The opinion of a sales clerk is the only possible source of information parents seek out, and they don't always do that. (Insert fully deserved plug for independent bookstores here.)

Frankly, people who care about books are lucky when a kid will agree to buy something that's not based on either a TV show or a toy commercial disguised as a movie.

Yes, bloggers are undeniably treading on the toes of the pros. But I suspect they're not taking over the world, at least not yet. I do cringe when book reviewers talk about bloggers as if they're uneducated hicks, completely vulnerable to the machinations of book publicists. The blogs I've been reading are written by a very educated group of people who have thoughtful things to say about books.

As for me, I've never taken a children's lit class. (Just things like Faulkner, the Greek tragedies, linguistics, and education.) Mostly, what I've done is read thousands of children's books for 43 years and write a few of my own. I'd like to think that makes me something of an expert.


*PC Disclaimer: Let it be acknowledged that some librarians actually procreate, negating the need for borrowing children in order to participate in imaginary wrestling matches with book reviewers.

Nonfiction Monday

It's Nonfiction Monday, when we collect blog links celebrating nonfiction children's books. Throughout the day, bloggers will leave comments letting me know about their nonfiction posts, which I will then collect as links for your reference. Let's hear it for the FACTS!

To start things off, here's my own nonfiction post for the day, a review of a biography of L. Frank Baum:

The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum has a nice Emerald City green cover by the talented Kevin Hawkes, and it's written by the equally talented Kathleen Krull, author of Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought), along with Lives of the Artists, Lives of the Writers, and Lives of Extraordinary Women. Another series she's written is Giants of Science, biographies of figures such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Marie Curie. Krull has a clear, reader-friendly style and a knack for telling people's life stories using just the right details. You may have also come across her picture book biographies of Hilary Clinton and Cesar Chavez. Of course, I have a friend whose favorite Krull biography is a picture book called Fartiste, about a Frenchman who farted so musically that he gave concerts. No, really.

Lyman Frank Baum grew up in the 1860s in a wealthy home, on an estate, actually. He daydreamed and read endlessly; he also wrote and printed a monthly family newspaper together with his brother Harry. Frank grew up to be a dabbler—he tried working in the theater, as a traveling salesman, a news editor, a window dresser, and in numerous risky enterprises. One after another his efforts failed, in a seemingly endless combination of poor choices and plain old bad luck.

Meanwhile, Baum married and raised a rowdy houseful of boys. Besides sharing songs and games and jokes and contests, he used to tell stories to his four sons. He published a few books and amassed plenty of rejection slips, till finally, in 1900, he published The Wizard of Oz. Though his money troubles never completely went away, he found a great deal of success and acclaim with the popularity of the Oz series and a musical based on the books.

Kevin Hawkes' illustrations complement the text beautifully. I especially like the title page, which shows the yellow brick road surrounded by fields of red poppies, with the Emerald City gleaming in the distance. (According to Krull, the most famous city in Oz was inspired by Chicago, particularly the 1893 World's Fair, also by an odd little joke about horses and sawdust.) Hawkes's L. Frank Baum is the perfect blend of gentle and playful. The illustrator also brings an unfamiliar historical era to life, making it intriguingly accessible.

I found Krull's biography poignant and inspiring—here is a man who was really bad at providing for his beloved family, but he just kept trying. Eventually, his riskiest work of all paid off with the success of The Wizard of Oz. Krull quotes Baum as saying, "If I am to do any good in the world, my highest ambition will be to make children happy." By today's standards, which often defines people by their incomes and business results, L. Frank Baum was mostly a failure. But who hasn't heard of The Wizard of Oz? Who hasn't seen the movie, even if they haven't read the book? We hear a lot of talk about Narnia and Middle Earth, but I suspect the best-known fantasyland of all is Oz. I very much appreciate Kathleen Krull's lovely biography of the creator of Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Nonfiction Monday Links:

Abby Librarian brings us a review of Beyond: A Solar System Voyage by Michael Benson, a book with wonderful space photos for middle and high school students.

Over at Lori Calabrese Writes! we find some mummies that aren't from Egypt in her review of Bodies from the Ice by James M. Dean for 9- to 12-year-olds.

Jill at The Well-Read Child presents a review of Chee-Lin: A Giraffe's Journey, a picture book by James Rumford. Did you know the Chinese brought a giraffe back home from Africa before Columbus even set sail to the Americas?

From Bookends, it's a review of The Anne Frank Case: Simon Wiesenthal's Search for the Truth by Susan Goldman Rubin. This long picture book for older elementary students shows Wiesenthal's research quest in response to Holocaust deniers.

In Need of Chocolate reviews Dolphin Talk, a title from my favorite science series for first and second graders, Let's Read and Find Out.

From Shirley at Simply Science, read a review of How Weird Is It? by Ben Hillman, a collection of odd science information for 9- to 12-year-olds. Love the cover!

Wild About Nature reviews two of Marianne Berkes' books, both patterned after the classic rhyme "Over in the Meadow": check out Over in the Arctic Where the Cold Winds Blow and Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme. As a bonus, we get an interview with author Marianne Berkes.

Roberta of Wrapped in Foil gives us a review of Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mystery of the H.L. Hanley by Sally M. Walker. This YA title should bring home why being asked to crew a prototype for a submarine was a worrisome proposition.

The Book Chook offers up a review of a picture book in rhyme called By Jingo! An Alphabet of Animals by Aussie author Janeen Brian.

Wendie Old tantalizes us with her invitation to a panel discussion featuring 18 nonfiction writers at the upcoming ALA Convention in Chicago. Visit her site, Wendie's Wanderings, to learn more about the presenters and their workshop, titled "Nonfiction Blog Blast: Booktalks for Reluctant Readers."

Thanks to everyone who participated in this week's Nonfiction Monday!